Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2008-09: A product of the Belle Tire midget program in Michigan, Torey Krug skated in 59 games for the Indiana Ice in his first USHL season. Krug was the fourth-leading scorer for Indiana, leading all Ice defensemen in both goals (10) and assists (37) and was plus-three with 50 penalty minutes. Indiana captured the USHL's Clark Cup in the playoffs after finishing third in the East Division during the regular season. Krug scored 1 goal with 6 assists and was plus-11 with 13 penalty minutes in 13 playoff games.

2009-10: Krug established his presence in the lineup for Michigan State University as a freshman – skating in all 38 games for the Spartans. Krug was second amongst Spartans defensemen with 21 points behind Edmonton prospect Jeff Petry (29 points). Krug scored 3 goals with 18 assists and was minus-four with 67 penalty minutes. Michigan State finished second in the CCHA but did not receive an NCAA tournament bid after falling to Michigan in the CCHA quarterfinals. Krug was named to the CCHA's All-Rookie team but was not among the 210 North American skaters in Central Scouting's rankings prior to the 2010 NHL Draft.

2010-11: Krug was named the CCHA's Best Offensive Defenseman following his sophomore season at Michigan State. In 38 games with the Spartans he scored 11 goals with 17 assists and was minus-six with 59 penalty minutes. Seven of his 11 goals were scored on the Michigan State power play. The Spartans slipped to 10th in the 11-team CCHA and lost to Alaska in the first round of the playoffs.

2011-12: Krug made his NHL debut – appearing in two games with the Bruins – after signing a three-year entry-level contract with Boston in April 2012 following his junior season at Michigan State. Krug finished with 1 assist and had an even plus/minus; averaging just over 17 minutes of ice time per game with the Bruins. In what would be his final season of college hockey, he led all Spartans scorers with 12 goals and 22 assists and was plus-17 with a team-leading 51 penalty minutes in 38 games. Michigan State finished fifth in the CCHA and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament despite a quarterfinal loss to Miami in the CCHA tournament.

2012-13: Krug played one regular season game for Boston but made a big splash for the Bruins in the playoffs after spending his first pro season in the AHL. He made his only regular season appearance with the Bruins on March 27th, seeing 16 minutes of action and finishing -1 with 1 assist in the Bruins' 6-5 shootout loss to Montreal. Krug made his playoff debut in Game 1 of Boston's second round series with the Rangers and had points in 5 of his first 7 playoff games. He was scoreless in the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals against Pittsburgh and in the Stanley Cup finals series with Chicago. Krug scored 4 goals with 2 assists and was +5; averaging 15:49 minutes of ice time in 15 playoff games. Three of his four goals were scored on the power play. In 63 regular season AHL games he scored 13 goals with 32 assists and was an even plus-minus with 37 penalty minutes. Providence finished first in the Atlantic Division and reached the second round in the playoffs. Krug had 3 assists and was -1 in seven AHL playoff games.

Talent Analysis

Torey Krug is a small puck-moving defenseman with a big heart. Most undersized defenseman are offense first, but that is not the case with Krug who will do whatever it takes to win; block a shot, take a hit to make a play, or battle in the corners. When he does activate offensively, he uses his outstanding skating ability to join the rush and act as a fourth attacker, but he’s smart about limiting the amount of risks he takes. He has excellent distribution skills and will eventually be an option on the power play.

Krug has legitimate top-four talent, but there will always be questions about his size and ability to handle power forwards.

Future

Krug is expected to play the 2013-14 season in the NHL after an impressive run to the Stanley Cup Finals last spring.

Photo: Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon led all NHL rookies in scoring during the 2013-14 regular season, and even led all NHL scorers during the 2014 NHL playoffs until the Avalanche were eliminated in the first round (courtesy of Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon had a huge second half of the season to pull away from the field in the Calder Trophy race. His performance in the 2014 NHL playoffs was simply the cherry on top of a great rookie season.

Photo: Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon is the top NHL rookie in most offensive categories and has totaled 62 points in 79 games (courtesy of Dustin Bradford/Icon SMI)

The Calder Trophy race heads down the stretch and, while Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat led all rookie scorers in the month of March, Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon has tightened his hold on the lead in the Hockey's Future monthly poll.

Photo: Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has just broken the record for the longest point-scoring streak by an 18-year-old that had been held for 34 years by Wayne Gretzky (courtesy of Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

With the Olympic break in February, most NHL teams played only a half dozen games or so during the month of February. But that was enough time for Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon to widen his lead in the Calder Trophy poll, being a unanimous selection as the leader in the monthly poll by the Hockey's Future staff.

Photo: Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon turned in a strong month of January to earn the top spot in this month’s Calder Poll, with MacKinnon appearing to be a front-runner for the Calder Trophy heading into the Olympic break (courtesy of Russell Lansford/Icon SMI)

For the fourth straight month, a new player takes over the top spot in the Hockey's Future Calder Poll as Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon assumes the top spot in what was a near consensus among the HF staff.

Photo: Forward Craig Cunningham made his NHL debut this season on December 17th, 2013. Selected in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL Draft, Cunningham is in his third season of professional hockey. (courtesy of Fred Kfoury/Icon SMI)

The Boston Bruins have stockpiled prospects and the Providence Bruins are starting to see some of those players shine. Multiple prospects are starting to see time at the NHL too as the Bruins have dealt with the injury bug this season.